KEFI Gold and Copper plc (LON:KEFI), the gold exploration and development company with projects in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has advised this morning that it is presenting at the Mines and Money Conference being held in London on Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 December 2021.
The presentation being given will shortly be available on the Company’s website at https://www.kefi-minerals.com and includes reference, inter alia, to the following matters:
| · | Increase in asset values | |
| o | The value of the Company’s projects have, by the Company’s estimates (using NPV analysis), more than doubled over the past year and are expected to increase further due to targeted expansion of resources and reserves over the coming year. The next update and upgrade to a Mineral Resource Estimate is scheduled for December 2021 in respect of the Hawiah Copper-Gold Project in Saudi Arabia. Looking beyond the short term, the Company has a large project pipeline to foster further growth following the planned triggering of its first developments in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia in 2022 and 2023. | |
| · | The Ethiopian political situation and the limited impact the civil war in Ethiopia has had on KEFI. | |
| o | The conflicts in the Ethiopian civil war have all been well away (c 1000km) from the Tulu Kapi Project site. After the Ethiopian Government unilaterally declared a ceasefire on 28 June 2021, rebel forces proceeded to occupy large parts of the neighbouring states of Afar and Amhara (adjacent to the State of Tigray where the rebels originate) in July-September 2021. The rebels have not entered the State of Oromia where the Tulu Kapi Gold Project and Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Ababa are located. | |
| o | After the Ethiopian Government was re-elected in October 2021, it launched major military offensives which in recent days has led to the rebel militias retreating from Afar as government forces continue to advance on the rebel militia positions in Amhara. In addition, independent mediation efforts have gathered pace backed by the African Union and United Nations amongst others. | |
| · | The COVID pandemic and its limited impact on Company activities. | |
| o | The Company complies with strict COVID-management procedures and, as a result, the pandemic has had limited impact on its operations. | |
| o | The pandemic’s low impact in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia is summarised in the following statistical comparison from Worldometer (as at 29 November 2021): | |
| Cases | Deaths | Population (million) | Cases per million | Deaths per million | |
| UK | 10,189,059 | 144,810 | 68.4 | 148,987 | 2,117 |
| Ethiopia | 371,346 | 6,750 | 119.0 | 3,121 | 57 |
| Saudi Arabia | 549,720 | 8,834 | 35.6 | 15,451 | 248 |
| Cyprus | 133,860 | 594 | 1.2 | 109,744 | 487 |
KEFI Gold and Copper is focused primarily on the advanced Tulu Kapi Gold Project development project in Ethiopia, along with its pipeline of other projects within the highly prospective Arabian-Nubian Shield. KEFI targets that production at Tulu Kapi generates cash flows for capital repayments, further exploration and expansion as warranted and, when appropriate, dividends to shareholders.
